1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for preparing food products and the products so produced. In particular, it relates to a method for coating a whole meat muscle product with a powdered material and the thus produced coated whole meat muscle product.
2. Description of the Related Art
The addition of smoke flavor and/or color to meat products has been very popular for hundreds, if not thousands, of years across the world. A number of methods for producing smoke-flavored and/or smoke-colored products are known. These methods include adding smoke flavor and/or color to meat products using natural smoke or using liquid smoke.
Natural smoke is produced by the thermal decomposition of woods. Once generated, the smoke is introduced into a processing oven or smokehouse containing the meat product to be treated. Inside the smokehouse, a blower circulates the smoke around the meat product and causes the smoke to be deposited on the surface of the meat. There are numerous drawbacks to using natural smoke. For example, the accumulation of tar during the natural smoke processes makes it difficult to preserve a consistent smoke quality as well as to maintain equipment in good working order. Furthermore, natural smoke processes emit effluent requiring expensive air pollution control systems.
An alternative to natural smoke is liquid smoke. Liquid smoke is generally produced by condensing natural smoke or by water scrubbing natural smoke. Liquid smoke application processes typically involve dipping, spraying, or drenching the meat product to be treated in or with a solution containing liquid smoke.
It is known that an electrostatic field can be applied to cause natural smoke or atomized liquid smoke to be attracted to a meat product and thus treat the meat product. While such arrangements allow for a more rapid distribution of smoke flavor and coloring over the meat product, such processes still suffer from serious drawbacks, especially if the meat product is wet. If the meat product has excessive moisture when it is smoked, its surface develops an undesirable muddy color and a bitter taste. This is of particular concern with whole meat muscle products such as turkey breasts, chicken breasts, ham products and the like. They are generally wet, having been treated with a pickling solution prior to smoking.
GB 2,000,430 A discloses a method for producing smoked fish. A combination of a smoke flavor salt-based composition and maltodextrin, a water-soluble carrier, can be applied with an electrostatic spray gun. The fish is not pickled prior to smoking. Instead, the method described in GB 2,000,430 A serves as an alternative to pickling.
Thus, there remains a definite need for an effective method for a consistent, quick, and cost effective coating method for coating whole meat products with a powdered material. There remains a further definite need for a method for applying powdered materials, that are at least partially water-soluble, to whole meat muscle products that have been injected with a pickling solution. There remains a still further definite need for a method for evenly distributing flavoring and/or coloring coatings to whole meat muscle products. The present invention satisfies these and other needs and provides further related advantages.